All kinds of news in the Manchester United starting XI today at CSKA Moscow as Ashley Young was granted the Captain’s armband. United manager Jose Mourinho started the following team: De Gea, Young, Blind, Lindelof, Bailly, Smalling, Matic, Herrera, Mkhitaryan, Martial and Lukaku.
The list of available substitutes is as follows: Romero, Darmian, Tuanzebe, Mata, McTominay, Lingard and Rashford.
Interesting that Victor Lindelof was handed a very rare start, given that the Swede was a hot topic of discussion yesterday at Mourinho’s press conference.
Also worth noting:
Scott McTominay and Axel Tuanzebe aren’t named to the team sheet very often; certainly not so for matches as meaningful as this.
Ashley Young earns the Captaincy with Michael Carrick out injured.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan was chosen as the Manchester United player to meet the media ahead of the Red Devils UEFA Champions League group stage clash at CSKA Moscow. Manager Jose Mourinho met the media as well, and during his session he made it clear that Mkhitaryan was selected for the press conference only because he speaks Russian, and not as an indicator of the Armenian being chosen, or not chosen, for the first team tomorrow.
Mourinho made it clear that he was trying to make it easier for the media, and that he likes to make things easier for journalists whenever he can.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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